Thank you very much Pappy, with your .config I dont have kernel panics any more. What was wrong in my config?

If I were to guess, I'd say it was having IOMMU turned on with a machine that doesn't have that option. It could have also been turning off DMA redirection, turning off yenta, turning off wimax, turning on the random number generator, or turning off all filesystems but ext4.

The best way for you to find out is to experiment. Keep the known good .config somewhere safe, and re-enable the options until you find the one that makes the machine have issues again. If you do go that route, then let me know the exact cause.

Since things changed with 2.6.32, Could I humbly and respectfully suggest to pappy_mcfae, some conclusive investigations / testings around rcu subsystem settings for modest SMPs. (fanout)
I no longer hope being capable of this myself.

I have a better idea. If there is someone who is a regular here who would like to tackle that issue, please step up and do so. At the moment, my plate is fairly full. I would like to know the answer to this in a practical sense.

I'm trying to compile the 2.6.33-gentoo-r1 kernel with KMS and am getting a kernel panic. When I boot the previous 2.6.33-gentoo-r1 kernel that I compiled without KMS it is OK. I changed a few other settings, but not anything that I thought was important. I would really appreciate any ideas at to why this does not work.
.config with KMS http://pastebin.com/EzCvD2wB
.config w/o KMS http://pastebin.com/ei2HUpCS

# CPU Frequency scaling
#
CONFIG_CPU_FREQ=y
CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_TABLE=y
CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_DEBUG=y
# CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_STAT is not set
# CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_DEFAULT_GOV_PERFORMANCE is not set
# CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_DEFAULT_GOV_POWERSAVE is not set
CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_DEFAULT_GOV_USERSPACE=y
# CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_DEFAULT_GOV_ONDEMAND is not set
# CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_DEFAULT_GOV_CONSERVATIVE is not set
CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_GOV_PERFORMANCE=y
# CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_GOV_POWERSAVE is not set
CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_GOV_USERSPACE=y
# CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_GOV_ONDEMAND is not set
# CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_GOV_CONSERVATIVE is not set

You weren't too far off. I just did a bit of tweaking here and there so you'd be starting from a stable base.

As far as KMS, I highly recommend you don't use it. It began life as a parasite on Intel GPU's. Its instability has been documented in many places. Beyond that, it remains buggy with the Intel GPU. I can't see as they're doing much better with ATI.

Because some "wise" individual decided crappy is the new good, I am now forced to remain with xorg-server-1.7.6. This is because the drivers that work with xorg-server-1.8.0 require KMS. Since KMS remains unstable, xorg-server-1.8.0 is also unstable with the Intel GPU. I can only imagine the kind of instability ATI GPU's are subject to.

If you do plan on using KMS, turn off the VESA VGA framebuffer. KMS is a "framebuffer" as well the drm infrastructure. Having KMS, and VESA VGA, AND RADEON framebuffer is a good way to generate a minute wait.

1) Move your .config file out of your kernel source directory (/usr/src/linux- ).
2) Issue the command make mrproper. This is a destructive step. It returns the source to pristine condition. Unmoved .config files will be deleted!
3) Copy my .config into your source directory.
4) Issue the command make && make modules_install.
5) Install the kernel as you normally would, and reboot.
6) Once it boots, please post /var/log/dmesg so I can see how things loaded.

It booted up like a charm.
Here is the dmesg log
http://pastebin.com/Dk8pahy0
I did get a message that frequency scaling was unsupported. I am going to try and adjust a couple of the CPU frequency scaling & processor driver options. Thank you very much for your help.

I started with a kernel seed to make sure of the stability of what I was sending. I probably should have just redone your .config, but I really feel most secure when I'm sending a .config borne of a seed. This is especially true since I am trying out some of my new seed settings before I commit them to the seeds.

It's a beautiful day to release new kernel seeds. Sure. I knew you'd agree. I've just uploaded the .configs for 2.6.32-tuxonice-r7, 2.6.33-tuxonice-r2, and 2.6.33-gentoo-r2 in both x86 and x86_64 flavors. Enjoy!

Another bit of good news. The Above and Beyond page is just about ready to go. Once I get the updated graphic, I'll be putting that page up. I'm also working on settings page ten. Lots of fun coming up in the world of kernel-seeds.org.

Because some "wise" individual decided crappy is the new good, I am now forced to remain with xorg-server-1.7.6. This is because the drivers that work with xorg-server-1.8.0 require KMS. Since KMS remains unstable, xorg-server-1.8.0 is also unstable with the Intel GPU. I can only imagine the kind of instability ATI GPU's are subject to.

I think that is not really true. I am using xorg-server-1.8.0 with xf86-video-intel-2.9.1 and without KMS, kernel 2.6.31-r10. This is stable for me. If you experience differently, please give a comment in this thread.

I started with a kernel seed to make sure of the stability of what I was sending. I probably should have just redone your .config, but I really feel most secure when I'm sending a .config borne of a seed. This is especially true since I am trying out some of my new seed settings before I commit them to the seeds.

Cheers,
Pappy

I just added in my sensor and powernow and everything is great. Thanks again.

At long last, I've got the Above And Beyond page looking the way I've envisioned it. Please stop by and check it out. It's my homage to those who have helped make this site what it is. The page looks best with Firefox, then Chrome, and Opera. IE and Seamonkey don't reproduce it properly.

The idea has been floated that I put a link to a site of each person on the lists' choosing. If those named on the page want that, just let me know your link URL. I will see if I can make it happen without messing up the look of the page. If that can't happen, then just bask in my public praise for all of your deeds, great and small.

Hi I have tried a few of your seeds, both 32 and 64 bits, added all the hardware and functionality I needed, and I come across a strange behavior during boot:
while loading the kernel the system freezes until I press any key on the keyboard
then during the sysinit same freezes happen multiple times and I have to click to finally get to command prompt
everything works after that, but its really anoying
I`m pretty sure there is something wrong with kernel configuration, because when I boot a kernel which I configured myself (long time ago and having a lot more things than needed) this issue does not exist

I'd say you have other issues if that setting can so drastically change the operation of your machine. I can change it with ease on all systems, and it never causes an issue. Of course, if it works, why fix it?

unrelated: pappy - you happen to have any info handy on zen-sources + hardened patches?

I sent kernelOfTruth a ping as I found one of his ancient threads. Got myself 5 statics, trying to build out some hardened KVM guests!

With the clusterfuck of hardened-sources being dated (enough to where it wont mount btrfs volumes!?), me having to hack up an ebuild from anarchy overlay...I'm thinking this may well be the route to go for my servers henceforth.

I will have to do some looking. I clearly remember seeing the patches, and I think I downloaded them...but it was a while back, and I haven't seen a lot of movement in zen...and hardened has stopped dead at 2.6.29. I'll look around tomorrow once I get some running done, and see what I can find.